How Connor McDavid’s first playoff game stacks up to past Oilers greats

Melker Karlsson scored the winning goal in overtime and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1.

For better or worse, like it or not, these Oilers and especially Connor McDavid will be compared to greats of the past as they mature and push towards their Stanley Cup goals.

So now that McDavid has played in his first career Stanley Cup Playoff game, how did he stack up to those all-time Oilers?

First, let’s take a look at how the stars from the 1980s fared in their first post-season games (numbers courtesy Sportsnet Stats):

APRIL 8, 1980 – PRELIMINARY ROUND: GAME 1 VS FLYERS
WAYNE GRETZKY: 1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST
MARK MESSIER: 1 ASSIST

APRIL 8, 1981 – PRELIMINARY ROUND: GAME 1 VS CANADIENS
JARI KURRI: 2 GOALS, 1 ASSIST
GLENN ANDERSON: 1 GOAL
PAUL COFFEY: 1 GOAL

And McDavid?

In regulation, McDavid got 20:38 of ice time, which was actually a few seconds less than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. McDavid picked up a second assist on Milan Lucic’s goal and two shots in regulation.

McDavid was shut out in overtime as the Sharks, who were the better team the second period on, won it on a goal from Melker Karlsson.

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